Aircraft are configured to carry a variety of stores that may be deployed during flight. These stores may include various types of projectiles that are intended to impact a predefined target. In order to train crew members in the deployment of the stores and/or to assess the performance of the aircraft, the stores or the like, practice stores may be carried by and deployed form an aircraft during a training flight. The practice stores are generally designed to mimic the performance of a corresponding store, such as in terms of its flight characteristics and/or targeting accuracy.
Since aircraft may carry and deploy a variety of different types of stores, there are also a variety of different types of practice stores, each of which mimics the performance of a respective store. In order to simulate the performance of various different stores, a number of different types of practice stores must be maintained in inventory since each practice store simulates a respective store. However, practice stores have not been designed for all types of stores, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) glide bombs, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) or laser JDAM. Of the practice stores that are available, however, some practice stores may be configured to detect a target that has been designated or illuminated by a laser. In this regard, a laser designator may illuminate the target with a laser beam. The practice stores, such as Paveway II Enhanced Laser Training Rounds (E-LGTRs), may correspondingly include a laser receiver for detecting the laser designation of the target and determining the location of the target. The practice store may then be directed toward the target.
A practice store is generally destroyed or at least damaged upon impact with the target. As such, it is typically desirable to minimize the cost of a practice store while still configuring the store to appropriately mimic a conventional store since the practice store is not re-usable. However, the inclusion of a laser receiver having relatively high quality optical components within a practice store in order to detect a target that has been laser designated disadvantageously increases the cost of a practice store with the laser receiver generally being destroyed or damaged upon impact with the target.
Additionally, the costs associated with a training exercise involving the deployment of practice stores include the operational and maintenance costs of the aircraft. As a result of the size of the practice stores in some instances, an aircraft may carry only a single practice store or a relatively small number of practice stores and must therefore repeatedly land in order to take on additional practice stores during a training exercise that involves the deployment of multiple practice stores, thereby increasing the overall costs of the training exercise. Additionally, practice stores may be relatively heavy, thereby increasing the fuel and other operational costs for the training exercise.